N Carolina prisoners who assault staff to lose visitation

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — North Carolinas prison chief says inmates who attack prison employees will be put in solitary confinement and lose visitation privileges for at least a year.

Director of Prisons Kenneth Lassiter told The Charlotte Observer that prison officials will also work closer with prosecutors to make sure inmate assaults result in criminal charges too.

The new policies come after a violent and deadly year in North Carolina prisons. Four employees were killed at Pasquotank Correctional Institution in October after authorities say a group of inmates hatched a violent, but unsuccessful, escape plot.

Data from the prison system analyzed by The Associated Press shows about four assaults take place in North Carolina's prisons every day.

Lassiter says there needs to be zero tolerance for assaulting prison staff.